so... now what??

Well, this was a week.

Finals week at school - the cause of much anxiety, I think I could smell it in the air.  I wasn't too worried, just looking forward to being finished.  I reminded myself that I'm a freaking tutor for cripe's sake, and actually took my own advice and did fine.

As we sat waiting for our math teacher to arrive for our exam, one kid in front of me was all a-fidget while taking sips of RedBull.  I wondered how many of those he'd had that day.

I've just got one class I'm still waiting on the final grade for.  I had a solid A going into the final project, which was no biggie, so unless the instructor thinks it's total crap, I should be good to go with that class too.

*ahem*  famous last words.

And now, after all that studying and testing... nothing!  Yay! 

Yesterday I helped Wolfgang move out of his dorm.  That translates to - I sat in the car while he and his roommates lugged things.  Chaco is checking out later today, but he's been bringing things home piecemeal all week, and last night took Ellie Mae with him, so I don't even need to sit in the car for his final move.  Hopefully, he doesn't have much left because I don't know if the house can hold much more!  

Think I can pull off a garage sale while they sleep??

So it was nice to enjoy Meego's birthday.  Everyone was here for dinner and cake, and I managed to find his gift in all the dorm clutter.  Meego's last two birthdays have been somewhat overshadowed with Chaco's and then Wolfgang's high school graduations, so it was nice to not have all that hoopla going on this year.

Then last night was the final band concert followed by a few tunes from the jazz band.  There be Meego, slappin' the bass.

Is it my imagination, or is he starting to resemble Rock Chef?  

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boxed in

*DING * DONG *

Me:  Oh {SHOOT!} Don't answer that!

Meego:  What?

Me:  Don't answer that!

Meego:  Why not?

Me:  Don't answer that!

Meego:  Go answer that?

Me:  Don't answer that!

Meego:  Who is it?

Me:  Don't answer that!

Meego:  It's UPS.

Me:  Don't answer that!

Today is Meego's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Meego!  Born Mother's Day of 2000.  So we ordered him a thing, and it was due to be delivered yesterday afternoon.  Meego and I were both at home, but I had to leave to go tute and was hoping that UPS driver would get here so I could intercept the thing.

I had to get ready to go and stepped into the bathroom to do in-the-bathroom things, and of course, that's when Mr. UPS arrives.  Hence the above "conversation", me shouting from the bathroom.

So I made it to the door to intercept the thing, which by then, Meego was on the up and up about.  At least it was in a nondescript brown box, so I took it down to the rec room to help it blend in.

In the meantime, Chaco and Wolfgang are to be out of their dorms by the end of this week, and have brought "a few" of their things to the house already.  So I have plenty of camouflage for Meego's Birthday thing.

Anybody remember where I put it??

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Silver Liningness Sunday

First of all...

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mom Friends!

Honestly, I'm not really a Hallmark holiday kinda girl, but it's nice to recognize the Moms.  I both talked to my kids, and talked to my mom, so got the best of both worlds.  It's like a Motherhood sammich!

In other related silver liningness, our next door neighbors welcomed a new baby early this morning - a Mother's Day baby!  They have four girls, and this one... it's a boy!  Can't wait to meet him.  I will mention that these are the neighbors of the poultry murders, so it's nice that they're enjoying happier times.

Back in the fall?  When the university did that Bike Jam thing?  I won a backpack?  Anyway, the bike jam connected us with a site for tracking our cycling mileage, and I've continued to use it.  It's handy for knowing when my tires are about to blow out.

Anyway, there are bunches of people on there, and several groups members can join, so I joined a commuter group.  It's kind of fun for motivating each other, and over the past several weeks, I noticed I was moving up on the number one slot.  This week...

the "girls" and I made it to the top of the heap.  See them at top billing?  It's not likely to last, so I took a snapshot.

And I'll end this silver liningness post with some clouds... SNOW clouds!

         

I needed a snowy day prop, and Napolion was all too happy to volunteer.  Doesn't he look happy??


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the frito banditos

Last week, Magnum was in Mexico for a few days for work.  While we were here, dealing with snow and subfreezing windchills, Magnum was in sunny, warm Mexico.  PFFFttt.

So he calls and talks about how sunny, how warm, how blah blah blah....  Yes, how nice.  *snark*

I went off to bed with my wool blanket.

Next morning, I turned on my phone and it quickly spills out a series of text messages.

"Our van was broken into..."
"Stole all the laptops..."
.
.
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Followed by a list of tasks for ME.  Change passwords, block online access, identity protection plans...  Oh, caca, hay chihuahua.

Oh, and also, could I meet him at the airport on Friday because he doesn't have a key for the Civic.  Anymore.

Well, I could meet him if he cared to wait around for a coupla hours.  But then Chaco volunteered for key dropoff duty.  All in all, it could've been worse.  And he still got all that sunshine and Corona.  And Karma will get the banditos.

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Silver Liningness Sunday

Happy first weekend of May.  Ours came in like a sweet lambkin!

This was an interesting week - what with snow and mousecapades and crazy winds...  In addition, Magnum was out of town for most of it, so I was weathering it all as the sole old wise person.  Although I imagine the mouse drama wouldn't have played out much differently if he were here, he just missed the fun.

He was actually dealing with his own fun in the form of Mexican banditos, but that's another story.

Seems I'm making progress in the P.E.O. world.  Today, I became a POd chair.  Bet you're wondering what that is!  In fact, I kinda am too!  But oh well, I'm in the books.

Spent some time with Chaco and Wolfgang this weekend.  They both came by for dinner from a task somewhat related to the Mexican banditos, so it was good to have the whole gang here at once.

Meego got in another track meet this week.  An earlier one was cancelled on account of below-freezing windchills (BOOO!), but the second one made it.  It was held in the big stadium with the fancy surface and grandstand, so it was fun for all to be in the big show.

And did you hear about one of the perks of living in Colorado?  Well, yeah, there's legal pot... BUT as of May 1st, AAA membership includes rides for stranded bicyclists at no extra charge!  They got four new members.

And the first inaugural Grizzly Dash 5K was fun to be a part of, and I was glad to avoid below freezing windchills.

Stay cool, fools!

and they're off!

I'm sitting here waiting to watch The Kentucky Derby.  I don't gamble, I don't own a fancy hat, I don't know what's in a mint julep, but I love to watch these big horse races.  Most exciting two minutes in sports and all that.

And I know there are those who say the horses are pushed too hard and/or drugged up.  I think they're beautiful, and hope there is no abuse.

Speaking of athletes and beauty and strength, in contrast, Meego and I did a 5K this morning at his middle school.

Meego's never done a 5K before, but his school was doing this book drive, and organized it around "The Grizzly Dash 5K".  This week, I asked him if he wanted to do it, and he was good to go, so we rounded up a few books to donate and jumped in the fray.

It was a great day for it - sunny and warm, no more b*tch wind.  We were urged to dress in super hero garb, so I of course went ....

...
...
...
...

Oh, sorry.  The Kentucky Derby just happened and I had to watch.  Awesome!

Okay, back to the contrast....

so of course I went as Storm Trooper Hello Kitty.

There were, I'd guess, about 150 runners.  Mostly middle school students, staff, and parents, as expected.  I took second for the "girls".   First place was a foregone conclusion, as Meego's school is home to both the regional boy and girl middle school distance badasses.  The boy took first overall, girl was not far behind.

Here they are lined up next to each other for the start of the race.  Boy on the left with orange shoes, Girl as The Female Flash.  Meego and I are behind them, trying to catch their juju.  I have no idea what I'm doing/saying.  Do I always look that strange?

mark... get set....

The race clock had me at 20:45 which leads me to think that either the clock was a bit off, or the course was just short of a full 5K.  I don't think I was going quite that fast.

too hot today for all black!

Meego made a great showing at 23:40 and now knows that he can handle a 5K just fine.

Who is he?  Captain Underpants?

I swear the  grizzly bear is real!

Magnum came along as cheerleader and photographer.

This was the first annual Grizzly Dash, with hopes of many more to come.

We can say we were there.









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greetings!

Yesterday morning, I was greeted by this in the back yard:

Yeah, it's snow and it's kinda pretty, but  IT  WAS  MAY  EVE!  Enough with the snow already!  And to my satisfaction, it did melt pretty quickly.

But it was annoyingly windy.  I contemplated taking the metro to class, but decided that would be wimpy and I hopped on Bella and flew to class with a tailwind.  Of course that meant that the ride back home would be a beotch, but oh well.  

I returned to Bella for the windy ride home and was greeted by this, clipped to her:

It's a clothespin adorned with a butterfly that reads "You make each day brighter!"  So I had to snap a pic and share it before paying it forward - to another bicyclist of course!  Thank you, random anonymous butterfly clothespin person!

The day continued into evening and I was at my desk watching PewDiePie doing homework when I heard a bit of cat ruckus in the hallway behind me.  I didn't think much of it, since the cat's a weirdo.  

But then he came into the room all proud-like and sat at my feet...  

and greeted me by commencing to eat the mystery mouse.  

*LOUD  HEAVING  NOISE*
Join me?

So (a)  the mouse has been located and (b) sent on to mouse heaven, and I now realize that (c) it lived among us for nearly two days.

I'd been thinking that Napolion seemed to be acting differently during that time, like his badassness had slipped a bit.  But he seems to be back to his cocky self since this redemption.

"FIST  PUMP,  BABAY!!"